


And Back

by vintage_granddad



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura is clueless about Earth things, Established Relationship, M/M, POV Outsider, Pidge is a trans boy sorry I don't make the rules, male pronouns for pidge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 15:30:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10028405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vintage_granddad/pseuds/vintage_granddad
Summary: Allura witnesses something she can't explain and vows to get to the bottom of it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> based on the idea that Alteans have no concept of romantic or sexual relationships / all Alteans are asexual.

_To the moon and back_ , Lance’s voice echoes down the hallway. 

Hunk laughs. _You do realize that’s getting further and further every day we’re out here?_ He responds. 

_I meant what I said._ Lance, again. 

Allura isn’t quite sure what they’re talking about. The Earthlings can be so cryptic - especially Hunk and Lance, who are the closest of the two paladins. Sometimes, she swears, they’ve got a language all their own. She takes the turn down a different hall, letting their voices grow fainter and fainter with each step towards her own quarters, putting them out of her mind. 

+++ 

It begins with what Lance is calling “Shore Leave”: he explains it as being from an old television program that ended before any of the paladins were born. Allura and Coran listen intently as he and Hunk (and occasionally Pidge) explain every episode in the thrilling saga. They listen less intently as they continue on to explain everything that happened in the spin offs, and, finally tune Lance out when he begins to talk about the reboot movies. 

“The concept of shore leave was _actually_ for sailors,” Pidge adds before Lance entirely dominates the conversation, going on and on about the show and aliens. The truth is that it was a simple mission: they picked up a distress cry but by the time they had arrived to the planet, the issue had been resolved, leaving them on a beautiful, peaceful planet. If only every mission were so easy. Allura and Coran said that they should keep going, but the paladins wished to stay for a while, and, ultimately, after much deliberation, it was decided that they would stay on planet to relax for the rest of the “day.” 

The group of them found a beach to settle down at, with perfect green sand spreading between the water and the tree line. Allura sat close to the trees, watching as Coran and the earthlings dipped their toes in the water. She vaguely remembers Lance exclaiming something excitedly before finally she closed her eyes and drifted off. When she woke up, Shiro was a few feet away, with Pidge gently napping on his lap. Keith and Coran were still in the water, Coran talking about the local wildlife and Keith clearly trying to terminate the conversation. 

She stood up and walked over to the edge of the water, surveying the scene in front of her. It was an incredible planet, after all. She supposed that when the fight against Zarkon ended, she would return for a longer visit. Under the guise of diplomacy, of course. 

Something felt off, though. Allura couldn’t quite place it. It was a feeling of deep discomfort. The air felt too heavy. “Coran!” she called out to the water, “how long have I been resting?” 

Coran and Keith came out of the water. “Just a tick, Princess,” he said, pulling on his mustache. Allura didn’t feel overly convinced though. Something felt wrong. She told them as much, to which Coran said it was probably just overexposure to this planet’s _particularly harsh_ sun, and suggested that they go back to the castle. They woke the sleeping paladins and traipsed through the trees back to their home. It wasn’t until they were safely in the ship that Allura finally realized what was wrong: Lance and Hunk were missing. It was so quiet without Lance’s constant (annoying) chatter, it was actually unsettling. 

They all decided to split up to find them so that they could be on their way, meeting back at the ship in two Earth Hours. Shiro and Keith go back to the beach, Coran heads back towards the village, and Pidge goes left and Allura goes right, towards the river, calling out to them as she goes. Allura arrives at the river, with still no sign of them, and follows it towards the booming sound of a waterfall. She gets to the source of the noise, but still doesn’t see the missing paladins. 

Which is how Allura finds herself climbing up a - very steep - set of stairs to the structure near the top of the waterfall: the increased vantage point might help her spot their comrades. She doesn’t make it to the top before she spots them, though. She’s maybe halfway there when something bright catches her eye and she turns to see them under the waterfall in a small alcove. Lance is pressed up against the smooth rock wall, legs curled around Hunk’s back. They’re very close together, not an inch of space between the two. They’re only a few yards away from her, but she can’t hear anything over the sound of the cascading water. 

“There you two are!” She calls out, but they don’t hear her. She takes one cautious step closer, unsure of how safe this space is, and not particularly fond of the idea of falling from this height. The rocks below her aren’t nearly as slippery as she would have expected, and she moves closer still. “We’ve been looking all over for you!” 

It’s then that Lance notices her. He quickly disentangles himself from Hunk, and they both take several long steps away from each other, Lance grabbing for his shirt and Hunk pretending to be very interested in the ground. 

“Come on, let’s go! It’s time we got on our way,” Allura says, turning on her heel and heading back towards the stairs. She can’t shake the feeling that what they were doing was a secret, so she decides against pressuring them for answers. But in the hours following, Allura can’t shake the image from her brain. What were they _doing?_ She can’t stop picturing Lance’s thin fingers entangled in Hunk’s hair, their faces pressed together. Earthlings were so weird sometimes. 

She doesn’t say anything about it until they’re eating their evening meal. Everyone else is engrossed in conversation, and Allura leans forward across the table, dropping her voice to a whisper. “What were you guys doing?” She hisses. 

Hunk immediately turns bright red, and Lance leans forward, putting his elbow on the table and dropping his chin into his hand. “Exploring,” he says slowly, raising his eyebrows. 

Allura blinks at him. “Exploring?” she repeats. 

“ _Exploring,_ ” he says in a low voice, and winks. Hunk drops his head into his hands, clearly flustered. Allura decides not to press any further. She doesn’t want to cause any undue stress to the already rather anxious yellow paladin. But before she moves on, she silently vows to get answers. 

+++ 

Lance is sitting on the kitchen counter, swinging his feet out and singing old pop songs with Hunk, silently baking something next to him. It’s familiar, and it’s nice. They don’t necessarily have to be interacting with each other in order to enjoy each other’s company. Lance rests his head on the cupboard behind him, reaching up high above his head to stretch. 

“Whatcha making?” He asks finally looking over at Hunk. 

“Space cookies,” he replies, and the words are hardly out of his mouth before Lance is reaching for the bowl of dough he’s been messing with. 

“You sure about that?” Lance asks. “I should taste just to be sure. We don’t want a repeat of last time, do we?” Hunk just glares at him, holding the bowl out of his reach but Lance reaches for the bowl again nonetheless. 

“Your hands are dirty,” Hunk says. 

Lance smirks at him, quirking one eyebrow up, “but yours aren’t,” he says in a low voice. 

It takes almost a whole minute of Lance making eyes at Hunk before he finally gets what he wants, in the form of two thick fingers being pushed into his mouth. He licks the batter off Hunk’s fingers and then sucks them deeper into his mouth, biting gently on Hunk’s knuckles. Lance moans quietly around Hunk’s fingers, and honestly Hunk forgets about finishing making those cookies. He pushes his fingers down further into Lance’s mouth, until they’re practically at the back of his throat, Lance grabbing his wrist gently with his own hands, holding it in place as he works his mouth around Hunk’s fingers. 

That’s when Coran walks in. 

Hunk yanks his fingers out of Lance’s mouth with a loud _Pop!_ and wipes the saliva on his shorts. He immediately grabs the bowl of cookie dough and pretends to be very interested in the consistency of the dough. Lance starts talking as though he were in the middle of a thought “as good as I’m used to from you, but I mean, it’s not like we’ve got the same ingredients to work with out here - oh _hey_ Coran! I didn’t even _notice_ you there!” He swallows, audibly, “what’s up?” 

“Oh, nothing!” Coran says surveying the scene in front of him, taking in Hunk’s red face and Lance’ shaky hands. “Carry on!” He scurries out of the room. 

“Think he noticed anything?” Lance asks. Hunk just stares at the ceiling and groans. 

+++ 

“Coran, I’m concerned about the paladins,” Allura says one night after the paladins have left to go to bed. 

“Interesting that you say that, Princess Allura, I was thinking the same thing.” Coran replies. 

“Specifically Hunk and Lance,” she continues, as though he hadn’t said anything. “They’ve been acting rather strange lately.” Indeed, the two of them had been sneaking off together since the beginning, but it was happening more frequently now, and on more than one occasion, she spotted Lance sneaking into Hunk’s quarters well past the time of retirement. She had sent in her mice to spy on them, but when they returned, they couldn’t communicate what they had seen to her. Similarly to her own experience under the waterfall. 

She tried to explain it to Coran, but he seemed just as perplexed as she is, and so they decide to ask Keith. They find him in his room, and Allura asks if he can help them with something. 

Keith looks between Allura and Coran uncertainly for a moment before agreeing to help them. Allura claps her hands together, “excellent,” but then finds herself faltering about how to proceed. She doesn’t have words for what she had witnessed. 

Coran moves things along. “Keith, you are close with your fellow paladins!” He says, confidently. 

“Not really,” Keith kind of trails off, but Coran ignores him. 

“We have been noticing odd behavior from two of your bunch. We were hoping you could shed some light on it.” Coran says, Allura nodding in agreement. “The other day I saw Hunk and Lance in the kitchen. And Hunk had two fingers in Lance’s mouth. When I walked in, they both acted like they were doing other things.” Keith turns a little pink thinking about it, but doesn’t say anything. 

“And before that, I saw,” Allura trails off, unsure. Then she takes a step forward and copies, to the best of her ability, what she had seen Lance doing to Hunk, wrapping her arms around him and getting into his personal space. She locks her mouth onto his. Keith’s eyes fly open wide and he makes a noise of surprise and pulls away. “What does it mean, Keith?” Allura pleads with him. 

“You should ask Shiro,” he says shrugging. But he’s smirking, so he definitely knows what it means. Allura realizes she’s not going to get any information out of him, so she grabs him by the wrist and drags him down the hall to Shiro’s room, desperate for answers. 

She pounds on his door, still holding Keith’s wrist. Keith is laughing audibly at this point. Coran and Allura exchange a panicked look between themselves before the door opens in front of them to reveal Shiro. 

“Shiro!” Allura says quickly. 

“Yes, princess?” Shiro says, snapping to attention. 

“I need your help! I saw Lance and Hunk doing this!” She pulls Keith into her and repeats the action a second time. This time Keith doesn’t pull away, but he looks right at Shiro the whole time. “What is it?” She asks, when she stops her demonstration. 

“That’s a kiss,” Shiro says, clearly uncomfortable. “You said you saw Lance and _Hunk_ doing that?” 

“Yes. Why were they doing that? What does it mean?” She demands. 

“I ... uh...” Shiro is at a loss of words. 

“ _Clearly_ you’re no help. I’ll ask Pidge,” Allura turns on her heel, taking off to find Pidge, dragging Keith by the wrist. Coran and Shiro follow close behind. Pidge turns out to be in the common room, tapping away at a computer when they enter. 

“Pidge! I need your help!” Allura commands, and Pidge’s head snaps up instantly when she speaks. Pidge sets the computer aside as Allura and Keith enter the room fully giving them his attention. “Are you ready, Pidge?” Allura asks very seriously. Pidge nods. 

Allura grabs Keith by the waist, spinning and dipping him and presses her lips against his and Pidge _shrieks_. Allura pulls away and looks at Pidge, still shrieking. “Pidge! What does this mean!” 

“I am a _child!_ ” Pidge screams, waving hands in front of his face as though to distance himself from it. “No! No no _no!!_ ” He yells. 

“Pidge you have to help us. What does this mean!?” Allura practically cries. 

Lance bursts into the room then, a little sweaty, hair a mess. “We heard screaming! What happened!” He asks, looking around the room. He takes in Shiro and Coran’s uncomfortable expressions, Allura _cradling_ Keith, and Pidge - whose yell cuts off at the sight of him. Hunk trails in at his heels. 

“Lance! Perfect!” Allura says, and glances back at Coran. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this!” She leans back down and kisses Keith on the mouth. 

Lance, for once in his life, looks absolutely shocked, if only for half a second before he cups his hands around his mouth and shouts “GET IT, KEITH!” 

Pidge screams again. Allura looks up, finally releasing Keith from the kiss, and looks to Hunk and Lance. Keith is shaking with laughter. “I’m so glad you’re both here! No one else has been able to help us!” Allura exclaimed. “Tell me more about the act I just performed with Keith!!” 

“You mean... kissing?” Lance says slowly. “Are you and Keith a thing now? Cause I gotta admit I’m a little bit hurt. Sorry Keith, I can’t help it that I’m better looking.” 

Allura wants answers, but finds that she’s more confused than ever. What is _a thing_? What does it have to do with how Lance looks? What is Keith getting? But before she gets a chance to say as much, Coran steps forward, repeating “A Thing?” with air quotes. 

“Yeah, you know, like, together? Dating? Romantically involved?” Lance offers up. Behind him, Hunk has turned several shades of red darker. Upon seeing that this hasn’t cleared up their questions any further, he tries once again. “You both like each other?” 

But none of that makes any sense to Allura. She doesn’t get it. They all like each other, in this time, she has grown to accept all of the paladins as a second family. And yet... and yet she hasn’t seen any of the other paladins performing this act with each other. It clearly isn’t a common thing. “I like all of you?” She says, slowly. 

“I means you’re attracted to each other,” Shiro offers. 

“Yeah, like you _feel_ things,” Lance adds unhelpfully. 

“Feel things?” None of this is helping! 

“You get dizzy and sweaty?” Lance clarifies. “Your face gets red when you look at them and your heart beats really fast?” 

“That all sounds _terrible_!” Allura cries. 

“Every moment you’re without them is pure torture,” Lance says loudly, dramatically clutching at Hunk’s shirtfront. 

“It really isn’t all _that_ bad,” Hunk corrects, putting a hand on Lance’s shoulder. 

“You can’t stop thinking about them! You care for them more than any other person in the galaxy! You’d die for them!” Lance pulls down on Hunk’s shirt, dragging him a little closer, he brings the back of his free hand up to his forehead dramatically. 

And it’s finally starting to click for Allura. “So you feel all those things ...about Hunk?” She clarifies. 

Keith raises an eyebrow at Lance, and Shiro looks shocked. 

Lance looks up at Hunk for a moment, seeking reassurance, before releasing his shirt from his tiny fist and instead reaching for his hand. “Uhh.. yeah.” And Hunk nods his agreement. 

“Wait!” Pidge stands, addressing the group. “You guys didn’t know?” He asks, incredulous. 

Everyone whirls around, looking at him. “You did?” Coran asks. 

Pidge looks unimpressed, gestures back towards where Hunk and Lance are standing with hardly any space betwixt them, holding hands. “Have you guys ever actually like... met them, or...?” 

“We thought they were just good friends!” Coran says. 

“Lance is just really _extra_ and dramatic. It didn’t register as romantic or weird,” Keith says. 

Lance gasps, his hand fluttering up to his chest, “I’m not extra _or_ dramatic!” 

“But, Lance, you’re always flirting with girls?” Shiro seems so distraught. 

“But he never gets anywhere with them,” Keith laughs. 

“Why would I want to when I’ve already got the best person in the galaxy?” Lance says and Hunk leans down and gives him a small kiss on the cheek. 

Pidge _aww_ s and Keith turns “Oh so _that’s_ fine but not Allura kissing me?” 

“They’re just so cute.” 

“You mean we’re not cute???” 

Lance laughs and loops an arm around Hunk’s shoulders, turning them both around to head back to his bedroom. As he leaves, he calls out behind him “Sorry, man, the people have spoken!” 

+++ 

Allura still has questions. She thinks that she might always have questions, as the Earthlings are always surprising her in new and exciting ways. But she’s learning that it’s okay to not have all the answers, that they will come in time. She still has questions, but she knows who to ask now. 

There are a few things, though, that she can’t wrap her head around. Like when she walked into the common room to find Lance and Hunk sprawled out on the couch, Lance’s head in Hunk’s lap with Hunk running his fingers through Lance’s hair. “I love you to the moon and back,” she hears Hunk whisper before she makes her hasty exit without them noticing they had ever been interrupted. 

“Is love a distance?” She asks Shiro. 

“No, it’s a feeling, like when someone means a lot to you.” 

And something clicks into place then, a memory sliding suddenly into perfect clarity: _to the moon and back_ she had overheard Lance saying. 

_You do realize that’s getting further and further every day we’re out here?_ Hunk had responded. 

_I meant what I said_ , Lance had said, probably crossing his arms and smiling that stupid, cocky smile of his. 

Allura smiles at the thought of them, together feeling more and more every day.


End file.
